SA8000:2014

SA8000:2014 is the current version of the SA8000® Standard. It replaced SA8000:2008 in June 2014. The most significant updates to the Standard as compared to SA8000:2008 are explained here below.

Forced or Compulsory Labor All organizations certified to SA8000:2014 must now ensure that their workers are free from employment fees and costs.

Health and Safety All organizations certified to SA8000:2014 must have a Health and Safety Committee consisting of management representatives and workers, which is responsible for monitoring health and safety hazards.

Management System SA8000:2014 places increasing emphasis on the importance of a strong management system. A management system is a set of policies, procedures, and processes that helps an organization integrate the requirements of the SA8000 Standard into its daily operations.

SAI has created a set of tools, called Social Fingerprint®, to help organizations continuously measure and improve their management system. This toolkit includes the Social Fingerprint Self-Assessment and the Social Fingerprint Independent Evaluation, and it measures the organization’s management system in ten areas important to continuous improvement. Social Fingerprint is used to define the maturity level of an organization’s management system on a scale from 1 to 5, and to identify areas for improvement.

Social Fingerprint® Self-Assessment: Completed by the organization applying for an SA8000 certification, the self-assessment provides a baseline score of the organization's management system maturity.

Social Fingerprint® Independent Evaluation: Completed by an accredited certification body, the independent evaluation helps the organization identify strengths and weaknesses in its management system.

Social Fingerprint measures and improves the organization’s management system in ten areas critical to continuous improvement in social performance.

The maturity of each organization’s management system is rated on a scale from 1 to 5. The result helps the organization identify areas for improvement.

For more information about the SA8000 Standard, contact sa8000@sa-intl.org.